Regular Guys
by zero-damage
Summary: Or: a slacker and an idol walk into a loading bay. Post-game Persona 3/4 crossover.


_A/N: Answer to a request for a Rise + Junpei meeting. Major spoilers for P3 ending, mild for P4. Rated T for language._

* * *

The guy was his best friend - but way back when, Junpei almost hated Minato.

See, Minato was the big shot. The one who was too good for just one Persona, the one who sent every chick at school wild even though he barely said a word, the one Mitsuru-senpai made leader only a couple of weeks after he signed up. The one who died to save the world.

Junpei had promised himself that, if he ever saw Minato again, he'd apologize for being about the lousiest best friend ever. For taking so long to understand that he couldn't be the hero and that he was never supposed to be. You know it isn't your story when the dog gets more respect than you (and doesn't get bitched out by Yuka-tan every time he freaking breathes.)

Maybe it's time for some payback. Junpei could bring Koromaru down to the arena, make him haul speakers and stage lighting around all day to buy this week's kibble. He'll probably be good at it.

...Nah, Chidori would hate that. She likes Koromaru's company. Besides, even if he did a better job than Junpei - even if he could empty an entire truck in two minutes flat - he'd never be as good at hiding from the supervisor. It's all about finding the places the old guy's too lazy to check. Like the loading bay, for example, which is freezing right now but a guaranteed safe spot. Extra-guaranteed tonight, since he's busy 'corroborating client requirements' (translation: trying to catch a glimpse of Risette before the concert, just like everyone else.)

Junpei's a red-blooded guy. _Of course_ Risette's majorly cute - and majorly famous, so the chance of anyone vaguely normal getting within twenty meters of her is zero. Less than zero, if that's possible. Minato always fed him the answers in math class. But hey, if all these morons are crazy enough to think they've got any chance with an idol, Junpei's happy to let them try. He gets to spend a quiet evening sitting on the edge of the loading dock with his can of Mad Bull, trying not to call Chidori - she gets pissed when he does it all the time - and hoping the supervisor slips in his own drool on his way back.

Pretty sweet, Junpei thinks, as he stretches his legs out over the ledge.

"Hey there," someone says behind him.

Uh-oh.

Okay. Stay calm. Girl's voice, so it's not the super. Probably a temp. No worries, Junpei's raised making excuses to an art form. _I'm making sure nobody steals the empty trucks. I'm Risette's secret boyfriend. My boss is ogling a teenager, cut me some slack._

The last one's most accurate, but telling her he's on break is simplest. He turns around. "Sorry, Miss, I was just--"

Holy crap.

It's Risette. _Ri-sette_.

Cute smile, pigtails, great figure, the works. And she's looking right at him.

No, wait. Can't be her. Risette wouldn't be down here. It's a clone. Or a trap. He'll look in one of the trucks and find the super hiding inside with a bunch of forms, each one explaining just how badly Junpei's been fired.

"You should close your mouth," she tells him. "Or are you gonna finish that sentence?" Then she smiles, and it's just as bright as the one Risette's wearing on the posters on the outside walls of the arena. Not only that, his stomach does a back-flip that'd make a gymnast jealous. It's completely nuts, but this girl's the real deal.

"Hnngh," Junpei manages, smooth as ever.

She rolls her eyes. "I know, I know, I'm Risette. But I'm not gonna bite."

_Wouldn't mind if you did, _he thinks. "Y-you're not supposed to be here," he stammers instead. "B-bodyguards. They follow you."

"Oh, trust me, they're really easy to get around. They're probably still waiting outside the bathroom," she says, then does that smile again. "My manager'll figure me out, but until the dancing ninjas quit bickering over their routine he's gonna be too busy yelling at them to even notice I'm gone."

"But… uh, this." He waves his hand at the trucks, the crates, and the room at large. "This is the loading bay."

She shrugs. "I thought I should come meet you. We've got a lot in common."

Junpei blinks.

He isn't certain - but Risette might've just hit on him.

Oh man. Ryoji would _love_ this. He'd kill to be here right now. Wingman or rival, he wouldn't care.

Unfortunately, Chidori's just gonna kill Junpei. Slowly and painfully.

Dude, this better win him major boyfriend points. "Look… I know, I, I'm a good-looking guy. And I'm flattered. Totally! But, uh, I'm taken." _Plus my girlfriend would shove a sketching pencil up my nose if she ever found out._ He'd add that he could see it now, but he's really trying not to.

For a moment, Risette just stares at him.

"Yeah, so that's definitely not why I'm here," she says flatly, then tips her head. Next time she speaks, it's much quieter. "You have one too, don't you?"

She's totally fronting. Hey, rejection hurts. "Have what?" he asks - in a voice he hopes combines 'Let's Just Be Friends' with 'But You're Still Really Hot'.

"Mine doesn't work that well out here, but she can still hear him. Tris-meg-istus," she says, like the name just jumped into her mouth. "Fire-based, right?"

It's at about this point that Junpei decides somebody spiked his Mad Bull and he's imagining all this while dribbling on the loading bay floor.

Risette knows about Personas. Risette, from what she just said, has a Persona.

Which is impossible, because only regular guys get them. Nobodies. Even Minato started out that way, and to the rest of the world he died the same. Junpei figures he better add dogs and robots to the list, before Aigis and Koromaru come gang up on him, but that still doesn't cover Risette and there's _no way_ she has a Persona.

...But say she doesn't. How would she know about them? From what Junpei's heard, the Kirijo Group's locked the records down so tight even Fuuka can't get access. Deny everything: it's what Mitsuru-senpai always told them and it's what she's doing now.

Mitsuru isn't a nobody. But she was never supposed to get a Persona - and for somebody so smart, she gets a lot of things wrong.

"Sort of," he answers. "Usually I just smashed stuff."

Risette smirks. On anyone else, it'd look smug. "Knew I still had it! He's strong. You must've used him a lot."

The sentence stops there, but the look she gives him says the rest. "Yeah, I did. We did," he corrects. "There were more of us."

"Huh. Thought so." She drops down next to him on the loading dock and shifts her legs so they dangle over the edge. "Hey, did one of them have tons of Personas? Sen--um, the guy who was our leader, he does. I kept losing track of them."

Junpei swallows. "He's still around?"

Risette raises an eyebrow, looking confused. "Yeah. Why?"

"Just wondering."

He turns away, till a hand taps him on the arm. _Risette's hand_, he thinks, then shakes his head. "So, what's your name?" she asks.

"Iori. Or, uh, Junpei. If you like."

"Nice to meet you, Junpei." She tips back her hand and points to herself with her thumb. "Rise, but Risette's fine too."

"Cool." He pauses. "My girlfriend, she's got a Persona too, but she wasn't on our team. Long story. She's really great, though." Another pause. "Oh, and we had a chick who does what you do, scanning and all that stuff. She's, uh, not much like you, though."

Luckily, Risette doesn't know Fuuka, so she can't call Junpei out on the most obvious understatement of the century. Instead, she smiles and nods. "Naoto-kun always said there had to be more of us. Man, she's gonna freak over this!" Then, Risette winks. At _him_. "Or as much as Naoto-kun ever does, I guess. Don't worry, I won't mention your name, she'd come ask you fifty billion questions and you'd just wanna throw stuff at her."

"Thanks. I kinda don't talk about it much."

"Me neither. Though that's probably obvious." She hums, heels tapping against the edge of the dock.

With Nyx, everybody just forgot. Including the team, for a while, though Junpei's pretty certain Minato remembered all along. Whatever Risette and her friends did never made it to the news either. _Pop idol defeats big-bad-whoever using magical mind demon. Shoots self in head, saves world! _Except for the baseball scores, Junpei doesn't pay attention to the news reports, but he's still pretty sure he'd remember a headline like that.

Suddenly, Risette scoots back on the dock and stands up. "Well, I gotta go. I don't want to give Inoue-san a heart attack." She shoots him another smile - the sort that could light up the whole arena. "Nice talking with you, Junpei. Tell Trismegistus I said hi."

He hasn't spoken the name in two years. Hearing her say it still sends heat racing over his skin. "Yeah, I will."

She walks away - but when she reaches the doorway that leads back inside, she turns back. "Oh, and remember to stay away from televisions," she says, and Junpei must look as confused as he feels because she quickly adds, "Didn't do it like that, huh?"

Televisions? Must have been a hassle carrying those around. "Guess not."

"It's over-rated," she tells him with another wink, then disappears through the exit.

Still sitting on the ledge, Junpei pulls out his cell. He's gotta tell Chidori about this, let her know there are even more people like them out there - and that one of them's Risette, who flirted and smiled and winked at him. Twice.

Yeah, great idea. He's always wanted to be a sketch-pencil hedgehog.

Junpei sighs, then flips open his cell and speed-dials Chidori's number, carefully reminding himself to leave out the flirting part.


End file.
